How To Spot Asbestos Roof Slates

Find an inconspicuous area in the roofing and mark a square inch of tile.

How to spot asbestos roof slates. While an expert lab test using polarized light microscopy may be needed to identify the specific type of asbestos fiber or to identify the presence of asbestos in air or dust samples many asbestos containing building products not only are obvious and easy to recognize but since there were not other look alike products that were not asbestos a visual identification of this material can be virtually a certainty in many cases. Check the manufacturer and product name on the insulation label and do a web search to find out if it contains asbestos. The date of the building or material can also tell you a lot about asbestos risk. The asbestos fibers inside slates can only be released when they are broken and this roofing material does not necessarily require removal although many people choose to do it.

The cost of testing a small sample is reasonable. Their color ranges between grey light green peachy orange and even purple. If you don t know the age of the shingles inspect them for wear. If the tile has less than 1 percent asbestos then the results are negative.

Buildings made between the 1940s and the 1980s are very likely to have used asbestos materials. Cut the tile carefully and place it in a plastic container. With slates the mark was ink jetted on to the back of approximately one in twenty products with the same letters denoting whether they contain asbestos or not. Their width can range from 12 to 48 inches and are very simple to identify since asbestos fibers can be seen on the grained sections of the material.

Slate roof central various photos of asbestos roofs slate roof central is your center hub for all things related to natural quarried slate roofing. Here you can find instructions for installing a slate roof repairing and restoring slate roofs and repairing asbestos roofs and ceramic tile roofs. Take the sample to an asbestos testing laboratory. If they look old they might have asbestos fibers in them.

Asbestos shingles were so common during the 20th century that almost any shingles installed between 1920 and 1986 probably include asbestos.